Every time I see the number 55, I think of the old national highway speed limit hurried legislation inspired by gasoline scarcity that eventually went the way of polyester shirts and bell-bottom trousers.

Now come to find out the double-nickel stands for something else. Fifty-five is the number of minutes a college football game must last to be considered legal for betting.

I guess all the people who bet on football games knew that, but I sure didn’t and I probably never would have if a power failure hadn’t halted last Saturday night’s Wisconsin-UNLV game with 7:41 remaining in the fourth quarter and the Badgers ahead, 27-7.

When the lights went out and officials decided not to resume play, all bets were off.

According to rules honored at sports books in Nevada, a college or pro football game that does not consume at least 55 minutes on the scoreboard is not considered official and all bets will be refunded. Since the UW-UNLV game lasted only 52 minutes and 19 seconds, all chits were redeemable at face value.

Las Vegas police say the power went out because a vehicle hit a transformer in the vicinity of UNLV’s Sam Boyd Stadium. People who had bet on Wisconsin to cover the spread about 7 points must have suspected the driver had bet heavily on the Rebels.

Or as one sports book director told the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “Folks that bet on Wisconsin were sitting pretty, thinking it would take a miracle to beat them. Those (betting) on UNLV, their prayers were answered.”

Football games have been called off early for a variety of reasons. A tornado, for example, halted a Kansas-Texas Tech game during the fourth quarter back in 1965 at Lubbock. Also, power outages aren’t that uncommon. A couple of years ago, the SMU-San Jose State game was wiped out by electricity problems in San Jose.

What made the UNLV-Wisconsin game so suspicious was the outage occurring so close to the 55-minute cutoff. To have it happen in the city that defines wagering in this country only made it more bizarre.

Still, I probably would have little noted nor long remembered the Wisconsin-UNLV incident if Kansas weren’t scheduled to play in Vegas this Saturday night.

KU will have, without doubt, its largest road following of the season this weekend, and it’s no secret it will be because of where the Jayhawks are playing, not how they’re playing. Hundreds of Kansans snapped up travel packages that will enable them to surf the Strip during the day and watch the Jayhawks at night.

No doubt the hundreds of KU followers hope they’ll hit the jackpot at the Excalibur or the Luxor or the MGM Grand or the Bellagio or wherever, then head to UNLV’s football facility where they hope they’ll see the Jayhawks knock off the Rebels.

However, on the morning line, a jackpot is a 5-2 favorite over the Jayhawks. That’s based on KU’s tepid showing in Saturday’s 45-3 loss at Iowa State. In fact, a Kansas fan may have a better chance of winning at keno than the Jayhawks will have against the Rebels. Do you know anyone who has ever won at keno?

Wisconsin didn’t have much trouble with the Rebels last weekend, although no telling what would have happened if the lights hadn’t gone out. Louisiana Tech overcame a late 18-point deficit to stun Oklahoma State on the same night in Shreveport and perhaps the Rebels would have rallied for 21 points in the last 7:41 and stunned the Badgers.

Kansas isn’t Wisconsin, however. The Jayhawks have struggled mightily on the road during the last several seasons. The thumping at Iowa State was typical. A plucky KU defense was soon betrayed by an insipid offense and the wheels fell off late.

For all we know, though, Kansas could run the table on Saturday night. Stranger things have happened in Las Vegas.